Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-05-06
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
THE PRISON or YHE CzAR.

The autocrat Of all the Russins is i'm
INJURED in pnlatial prison house. No con
Wet within his domains, from the Russian
frontier TO Behring Sea- is guarded so strict
~ rs he, the lord of ALL The London News
describes his prison in recent article of
singular interest His house, says the
News, is his castle in very peculiar SENSE
He has quite abandoned the winter palace,
because the winter palace opens on the
public street. The Anitchkof palace ON
the Neirsky where he sometimes ventures
to stay for few hours during his visits to
st. Petersburg, is at least surrounded by
walls But Gatschna alone, some seven
miles from the cnpital, is supposed to real
ize every condition Of safety, and there
the unhappy sovereign is interncd.
Gatschma is kind Of fortified oasis Of
verdure in the midst Of bare plain, and
it contains first, second and even a
third line Of defence. The visitor, from
whatever point Of the compass he may
come, has first to pass "a veritahle army oc-
cupying every avenue Of approach for
miles The next defence consists Of II
small forest forming the outer circle Of
the grounds, enclosed at vast expense, and
50 closely guarded that a squirrel could
hardly pass its walls, palisades or bitches
without observation. Within this lies the
walled park and within this again the pal
ace itself, with towers at the four corners,
which forms the keep Of the entire strong
hold No one is permitted to enter the
park without "A pci'ntis de circulation, and
the piper is verified, and reissued in a new
pattern to each holder every eight days
Every occupant Of the palace from the
minister Of state to the mcanest groom,
has to carry a passport Of this kind.
/ All the apartments within the building,
except those occupied 10y the imperial fam
lily. have TO be kept unlocked day aud night,
| and the police have the right Of entering
| any room at a moments notice, without
warning and without excuse. The sentries
round the park wall are posted within sight
and sound Of each other and are relieved
every hour, for fear their vigilance should
flas with the length of their watch. Cats
china i, ON a railway line, hut no traveller Is
allowed to alight at the station, or TO leave
it, without SPECIAL pass. The Emperor
himself is under police supervision, but
this has to be managed IA not to agra
vute the nervous irrltability which is th,
torment of his life The police are expect
ed o. see without being seen, and the czai
is sometimes So fortunate as to get an hour
fishing or boating in his own grounds with
out being obliged to remember that lac ha.
never been for one moment alone. The
empress never leave, the house, or at any
rate She never enters the grounds for eNcr
else or pleasure She takes the air ia an
open gallery, and she has stored there ev
ervthing likely 20 amuse the emperor, IL
the hope Of always keeping him 10y her side
Thus the car has become the victim o.
his own SYSTEM and it presses upon hin
with ever increasing weight. 1t has III
iuced what may be termed fairly a paraly
Sis Of government at st. Petersburg. Thu
Russian ship Of state is allowed to drift fu
want Of a man at the helm The heads %
the departments govern without an idea
These charlatans Of politics, adds the News
can apparently think of nothing bette
than to double the dose Of repression whicl
has 50 nearly had fatal result The!
have invented IA new crime moral com
plicity in assassination, and new punish
ment-banishment 10 a remote part Of ASIA
where even the name Of Siberia is almos
unknowu Some hundreds Of officer
caught in the act of moral completely hav
already started on this forced pilgrimage
and they will shortly he followed, no doubt
10y as many more victims as may he neces
sary TO form new colony in the waste
All this shows that the personal govern
ment is without personal governor.
And this conclusion is enforced 10y Tia
strange manifesto issued ON the cars be
half after the failure Of the first Of the re
cent attempts at assassination The re
newal Of these attempt, is pitifully de
plored, because they tend 10 prevent tn
ear from actively experimenting the al
fairs Of state which demand his persona
attention. The proclamation is in sui
stance a confession that the man who hu
the power Of life or death over all his sui
jects is obliged to crave his own life a
! their hands